Company of Heroes
by TheEscapist93
Summary: Join Jacoby Rex and the members of Fox Company as they embark on one of the most grueling campaigns in the 2540's. The Battle of Insomnis V. Rated T for violence. Please Read & Review
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: ****Alright this is my first fanfic guys so please don't slam me too hard. Please read and review. I do not own Halo though I own the characters. Without further ado let the story begin.**

**Chapter One: ****Wake up Call**

**0825 Hours, May 19, 2545 (Military Calendar) /**

**Central Transdanubia, Reach, Epsilon Eridani System **

My name is Jacoby Rex. I am a twenty three year old Caucasian male with dreams. One of those dreams was to become a member of the United Nations Space Command's Marine Corps. I accomplished that dream, joining up when I was seventeen in 2339 and became a Marine Mortar man with the rank of PFC. Over the course of six years and three different tours of duty fighting on worlds such as New America II, Cheribdess and Miridem.

Over that time I became what many would call a "veteran" of this war. Hell war, this wasn't a war. It was nothing but a stalling of genocide. Ever since 2525 a religious hegemony of Alien species known as The Covenant had been slowly twiddling away at Humanities very existence.

It was the same thing every time they found another human world. They would battle with the Fleet defending the world and usually win. If there weren't any MAC cannons defending the orbit, they would move in with their capital ships towards the planets surface. They would unload their ground troops upon the planet and attack the local populace.

They would battle with the UNSC units on the ground. Now most times on the ground the UNSC could hold its hold against the Covenants ground forces, but this didn't matter as the Covvies, the affectionate nickname used by many UNSC personnel, would simply fall back to their ships in space and glass the planet with their orbital guns.

Alas, this was the case with most engagements with the Covenant for the past twenty years. Humanity was living on greatly borrowed time; it was only a matter of time before Earth was discovered and everyone knew it. But if humanity was going to die then I was going to go down fighting. That's why I joined the Marine Corp.

"War is hell," that's what my dad told me when I told him of my ambitions to become a marine back when I was sixteen. "Well I would rather go through hell fighting then experience it without anyway to defend myself." After that my dad had a newfound respect for me.

Sadly both he and my mom perished along with most of the other inhabitants of Ilias III when the Covenant came to pay them a visit in 2540. I had been lucky enough to get off the planet in time.

But that was the past and I have to look forward to the new. New currently was becoming an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper or ODST for short. The ODST were the Elite Shock troops of the UNSC. They were the closest thing any normal human being could be to a Spartan II. They were renowned for their use of Human Entry Vehicles to land on a planet and engage the enemy.

I had dreamt of being one ever since I first saw them advertised on the television when I was younger. It showed ODST dropping onto the planets surface in their HEV pods and then a trooper would exit the pod with his weapon raised. Then the slogan, "The Few and the Proud" would appear. The slogan had originally been used for the US Marine Corps hundred of years ago, but within the last two hundred or so years the Marine Corps swelled to such a point that they outnumbered any of the other branches by quite a bit. So the few became the many.

After finally being accepted as an ODST after applying three times prior. I quickly packed my bags said my farewells to my old squad members and got onto the nearest ship heading towards the Planet Reach.

Now I was on a stuffy bus heading to Camp Geronimo. There were twenty six others on the bus. Their age ranged from probably seventeen to about thirty. There were a couple guys whose hair was beginning to gray and another who was balding. I subconsciously put a hand to my brown hair just to make sure it was there.

I watched as the vast number of trees became nothing but open plain. It continued like this for another half hour until the bus came to a slow stop. We had reached our destination. A few others of the younger men pushed and shoved to see out the windows.

"Oh cool," one said.

"This is going to be fun," another chimed. I shook my head. Poor bastards didn't know what was in store for them. Well truthfully I didn't know as well, but we all had been through at least marine boot camp so we had a feeling what was going to go down.

"Haha little teens are going to have one helluva time," The voice came from a red headed man with a handsome face about my age sitting in the seat opposite of mine. He scooted over to the edge and extended a hand, "Simon O'Reily."

I grasped the hand and shook firmly, "Jacoby Rex." O'Reily grinned flashing a group of pearly whites, "Rex, that's one helluva last name." Despite him using the word _helluva_ in both of his first two sentences I couldn't help but like the man.

"Yeah, it either goes two ways with me," I admitted, "People say my last name is cool and leave it at that or they pick on me making dinosaur noises behind my back during class."

"Tough childhood?" O'Reily guessed. I nodded, "You have no idea."

Any further conversation was cut short by the doors leading onto the bus hissing open. A drill sergeant in green camo fatigues strolled onto the bus. He was wearing the signature Campaign Hat that was associated with drill sergeants.

"Welcome to Camp Geronimo," he said in a surprisingly cheery voice, "Will you guys ….Get your sorry asses off of this bus!" That's the drill instructor I know. We all quickly got our belongings and hurried out the bus. We congregated under a flag pole bearing the flag of the UNSC and a flag of the Helljumpers.

Two more Drill instructors came upon us like carrion birds and began shouting at us to move our asses. The Drill Sergeant on the bus, whom I assumed was the leader swaggered to the front of our bewildered group. With a smirk he said, "Welcome maggots. You may all come from different branches of the military, Army, Navy, or hell even the good ole' Marine Corps, but that ends now. From this moment on you are nothing, but don't fret there is a chance that you could become one of the greatest things to ever live. You can become an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Ain't nothing out there that can best us and only after you complete your training can I even think of calling you Helljumpers," He seemed to pause to let that sink in before continuing, "Also while you are here you will show the utmost amount of respect to me and my fellow drill sergeants. We are judge and jury, got it?"

"Yessir Drill Sergeant!" we all shouted in unison. The drill sergeant smiled.

We were led to the barracks where we were told to drop our things. "This is your bunk," The Drill Sergeant; who liked to be referred to as Sarge, informed us patting one of the wooden bunk beds, "You will sleep here, that's it."

We nodded and began to unpack our things.

There were over a hundred twenty trainees in my class. And they split it up so that there were twenty recruits to each drill sergeant. Of course I get stuck with the Sarge.

First thing we went over was basic weapons use. We all had been through the mill of basic so we knew how to handle a gun, but the Drill Sergeants made us run through it again anyways.

That's pretty much how the first whole month went. Simply refreshing ourselves with the basics of being an infantry man. Holding your rifle correctly, how to clean it and even we practiced shooting.

That was my favorite part. We learned to shoot from the different positions, just like in basic. There was the standing position, the prone position and even the sitting position. We each took turns firing from the different positions at targets a hundred meters down range. Mostly everyone got the standing shots on target and about half that were able to hit the targets from the prone position, but only three people were able to hit the targets from the sitting position and I wasn't one of them.

Sitting while firing just felt awkward and in my six years of fighting the Covvies I had never fired from this position. Although I was a mortar man and not in every battle did I fire my gun. Despite not hitting the target while sitting I could while standing and going prone and I was proud of myself for it, though my DS was less enthusiastic. "What the hell Rex!" He would shout, his face turning red, "My momma could shoot better then you… and she's partially blind!"

Yup, after that the Sarge took a "liking" to me. He would get on my case about marching and how I held my gun. But it wasn't like he only got on my case. He also seemed to take a liking to disrupting O'Reilys' life as well. The fiery red head, who I guessed had some Irish in him. The Sarge had decided after I accidentally dropped my gun on a march that I will stand under the flag pole all afternoon reciting "I am a bad boy and dropped my rifle." Now usually this would be an humiliating thing to be alone reciting the same thing over and over again while platoons of trainees on march strolled but I wasn't alone for too long. After about an hour the Sarge returned with O'Reily in tow.

"Rex, looks like you are going to have some company this afternoon," He turned to the red headed man and pointed at the spot next to me, "Well you Irish prick get your ass over there." O'Reily did as he was told, mumbling obscenities under his breath as he did. He placed his rifle across his chest and began to recite the same thing I had been reciting for the past hour.

After the Sarge was a good distance away I turned towards O'Reily, "What are you in for?" O'Reily turned to me showing that toothy smile he had before, "Tried to knap me some more oranges from the mess hall, but the DS caught me."

We shared a small laugh at that one, but quickly subsided when one of the other Drill Sergeants patrolled pass. After that one had gone they continued their conversation. "So do you really think we will become ODST's?" O'Reily inquired squinting up at the afternoon sun.

I turned to the man and smiled, "Hell yeah we are. We didn't come all the way out here and take crap from guys like the Sarge just to quit." O'Reily chuckled, "yeah." There was an awkward silence for a minute before O'Reily turned to me and said, "Make me a promise bro?" I nodded.

"Make me a promise that we will get through this," he went on, "We will get through this together and become some of the finest Helljumpers ever to go feet first." He extended a hand. I smiled grasping it firmly, "You got it."

With that a friendship had been forged. O'Reily and I tried our best persevering over every thing that ODST training had to offer. After about two weeks of weapons training and daily marches through reaches Ardennes Forest we finally began our serious ODST training.

This was no easy task. We had to first adapt our selves to the smaller units the ODST usually went around in and we had to adapt to tactics used by the Helljumpers.

We learned to pilot most vehicles of the UNSC. You name it, Warthogs, Pelicans, Falcons, Scorpions; hell we even learned how to pilot one of those big Main Battle Tanks, the M1A8 Bronco. Then, much to our surprise we were then instructed in piloting and using some Covenant tech.

"Seems the Covvies left some of their shit just lying around," the Sarge joked, "And being the good Samaritans we are couldn't help but pick it up." There was a lot of stuff ranging to small arms like the plasma pistol and rifle to some of their big shit like Wraith tanks and what not.

One day, while we were being instructed in the ways of operating a Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle or 'Ghost', a young man who had been a merchant marine prior, questioned "Why the boys at research and development hadn't been able to manipulate the weapons and dish them out for our own use?"

The Sarge simply turned and said, "That's classified." After that he made us go on a three mile long hike up Mount Geronimo; the resident hilltop we had been running up and down daily since we got here, because we had "asked too many questions." Lets just say we were slightly angry at that young ex merchant marine that night and he got a nice little blanket party that night in the barracks as a result.

ODST training is some of the toughest training you could ever go through in the UNSC. Second only to Spartan II training and as a result many hopeful trainees drop out. From our original number of a hundred twenty by the time we were done it had dwindled down to about half that number.

But O'Reily and I made it and after some three months of the most grueling work I had ever been through we were finally done. There was no public awards ceremony, it was just a simply congratulations and a good ole' fashion group Oorah. We were given ranks. I was surprisingly demoted to Lance Corporal. Although this wasn't that big of a deal, I heard of entire Army, Navy and Marine officers joining the Helljumpers and being demoted to Private. Me just going down one pay grade was not that big a deal. At least I could say I was an ODST now. We were the best of the best, though we were only human.

Later that day from graduation, we were marched through the hot humid summer night towards a cluster of tents at the far end of the camp. I had failed to ever notice this tent city on my three month stay in Geronimo, so I assumed that they had recently been placed.

"This is where you will be assigned to your respective units that you will fight in the war with" the Sarge informed. I could have sworn I heard a sober tone coming from his voice, "Some of you will be infantry, others weapons platoon. Maybe some will be pilots, but whatever you are just remember the training you received here and everything will be okay."

"Yes sir Sarge!" we uttered in union. Even though this man was responsible for much of the misery I went through on my three months here, I couldn't help but love the guy. He was like a father figure too me and it slightly broke my heart to leave him.

We were marched quickly to a lighted oblong hut, with a door at either end. We stood at one end while an N.C.O called our names.

"Rex."

I detached myself from my platoon, ending, in that motion, my association and friendship with the majority of the men who had been my comrades for eleven weeks. Including O'Reily, I would especially miss him.

I walked quietly into the indicated hut. An enlisted man motioned for me to sit down opposite his desk. There were three or four others in ODST BDU's that were similarly "interviewing" other new arrivals. He asked me some personal questions rapidly, interested only in my answers, ignoring me. Name serial number, rifle number, etc.

"What did you do in the regs?" He asked, referring to my previously being in the regular Marine Corp.

"I was a mortar man, assistant gunner."

"Alright, 9th Battalion. Go out front and tell the sergeant."

And that was that. I was now part of the 9th ODST battalion part of the 105th Division. I had heard some little about them. They had been in some tough shit since the beginning of the war. Fighting on Harvest as part of Admiral Cole's counterattack force. And they had been on New Constantinople and barely got out with their battalion in tact. To be part of them was an honor and I would have it any other way.

I emerged from the lighted hut and said "9th Battalion" proudly, to a cluster of sergeants who had been standing there. One of them motioned for me to go stand with a group of men; I took my place among them. About a half dozen other groups were being formed.

"9th Battalion," I heard someone else mutter behind me. I turned to see who might possibly be in the same battalion as me and was surprised to see O'Reily making his way over to my group.

"Look what the cat dragged in," I said, giving my friend a clap on the shoulders. O'Reily smiled, "Yup, I'm surprised we got the same unit." He paused before going on, "We made it Rex, we really did." I couldn't help but smile back, "Yes O'Reily we are finally going to be real ODST."

At a command we were ordered into trucks. I piled in with my new comrades and the driver started the motor. We rolled off down the bumpy road to our deployment zone. With a sudden stop I was finally home.

Home being Fox Company, 9th Battalion, 105th Shock Troops Division. I was an infantry man and that was a big difference from being a mortar man, but training had prepared us and you know the saying, _every marine a rifleman_.

The process of enrollment in F Company hardly differed from the method of our "assignment" the night before, except that we run through a tent occupied by Captain Montgomery, the high nosed beady eyed commander of F Company. He assigned O'Reily and I to the same squad and we were off. As we left the tent I turned to O'Reily, "Dude this is just the beginning, we really are about to be ODST."

We got acquainted with our new squad and were surprised to find more then half were newbies. Guys who was nothing more higher then a Corporal. About half the Company was new. The N.C.O's who were the veterans of the Company were referred to as the Old Breed by us New Breed ODST. I felt comfortable with everyone and felt right at home.

Well I better have felt at home because for the rest of my UNSC career, all of these people would be my family.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: ****So this story ****IS**** going to be following the story of the 101****st**** Airborne during WWII for a little bit. It will be from their drop to about the time they go to "Caretan." You ****WILL**** se some very similar set ups and other same dialogue used in Band of Brothers. I will try to limit it greatly but don't flag me if you see any because I'm giving you ample warning now.**

**Chapter Two: ****Feet First**

**2345 Hours, August 21****st****, 2545 (Military Calendar) /**

**Orbit near Jendai Asteroid Belt, Omicron Justi System, On board UNSC **_**Olympia **_

We had not been at our barracks getting acquainted with everyone for more then a week when Central Command got a distress signal coming from the Planet of Insomnis V within the Omicron Justi System. The distress signal lasted only a few seconds but it simply stated that the Covenant was attacking the system.

The Omicron Justi System was a key system to the UNSC. It acted as a major transport hub. If that system fell to the Covenant then travel there by the UNSC was impossible. This in turn would cause travel between many systems to extend by a lot. What would have been a week or two in Slipspace would now double to about a month if that system fell.

So the 11th Fleet, which was stationed currently on Reach, under the Command of Admiral Orlando McClain, was sent to assist the besieged planet of Omicron V, the only inhabitable world in the system.

The 9th Battalion, my battalion, was sent along with the rest of the 13th Marine Expeditionary unit were sent along with the 11th Fleet. Together with the 7th MEU we formed X Corps falling under the jurisdiction of Major General Christopher "Brave Heart" McKinney. His brave tendencies and his tactical thinking, plus his Scottish background earned him the nickname Brave Heart.

XII Corps under the command of Lieutenant General James Harrison would be voyaging with us as well. Combined our two Corps came out to about 70,000 men in total. That would be a lot of men and women fighting on Omicron, but that just goes to show how important the star system was to the UNSC.

So after traveling through slipspace for about a week and a half we finally reached the Omicron Justi System on August 21st. the 11th Fleet came out behind Omicron IV, one of the lesser planets in the system. Over seventy five ships in total, all ranging from Destroyers, Frigates, Corvettes and a few Marathon Class cruisers. We even had a few of those medical ships that were used to transport and treat severely injured personnel. God only knows how many people ended up within those.

The 11th Fleet consisted of three separate battle groups. Texas, Arizona, and Utah. Each one was under the command of a vice admiral, except the Texas Battle group, which fell under the command of McClain himself.

Most of the UNSC personnel on board all of the ships had been taken off "ice" (TO be taken out of Cryo sleep). Fox Company had been stationed on the Marathon Class Cruiser the UNSC _Olympia. _This was the flag ship of the entire Fleet. Admiral McClain himself commanded this ship. It was an honor for us to be assigned to such a high valued ship, and Admiral McClain had personally requested us to be on board his ship.

From the Cryo room I instantly made my way to the mess hall. I may have been flash frozen, but I was still hungry. I quickly got into the fast growing line for chow. Today we were having beans and cornbread as our main dish with hotdogs on the side.

After getting my food I made my way through the numerous tables and pass the claustrophobic number of people to the table most of my squad was sitting at. There was O'Reily, Young, Chase, Moss, Chuckler, Russo and Hillbilly. I sat down next to O'Reily, giving a curt nod to the others, and dug in to my food. It tasted like blissful heaven. The others took notice of my eating and instantly began to get on me about it.

"Whoa," Moss chimed, "Don't eat it all too fast T-Rex. You'll hurt your little tummy." The others chuckled at this, especially Chuckler, who had a very interesting laugh. Hence the nickname. I had nickname T-Rex for obvious reasons. I didn't mind the name; it made me feel more involved in the gang. Others with nicknames were Russo, who was of Italian decent. So he quickly earned the name "Mafia" from the others. And PFC John Wall, who came from a small rural town in Missouri, got the nickname Hillbilly.

"Thanks a lot," I said before muttering "jackass" under my breath. All around marines, swabbies and ODST were eating and chattering noisily. Everyone was excited for the upcoming operation, which had been given the title Operation Leveler. For many it would be there first operation. In my squad however, we all have seen action in some way or another. So for us it was just another mission. Although for O'Reily and I, it would be our first as Helljumpers.

"So how's it like going feet first?" O'Reily inquired to the others after a few minutes of silence. It was Lance Corporal Russo who answered, "It is the most exciting and most terrifying thing you will experience in your life. As soon as you are jettisoned out of the ship you are in gods hands till you touch the ground."

"I don't even believe in any god Mafia, but I made it through plenty of drops unscathed," Hillbilly retorted. Despite him being called Hillbilly and from Missouri, he had probably the best vocabulary amongst the whole squad. An odd paradox in all its glory.

"Well I don't know about you Hillbilly," Russo said. I heard him say, "You inbreed piece of shit," under his breath. Hillbilly must've heard it too, because he got up and shouted "what did you say!"

"You heard me!" exclaimed Russo standing up as well. The two looked as if they were about to seriously deck each other when the intercom blared to life, _"All ODST of Fox Company, 9th Battalion please report to the auditorium. I repeat, all ODST of Fox Company, 9th Battalion please report to the auditorium."_

Chase stood up and stood in between Mafia and Hillbilly, "Alright ladies break it up. You heard that. We are getting ready to go so quit you arguing and let's go." Hillbilly and Russo glared at each other, before they and the rest of my squad began to depart. I stuffed as much of the beans and cornbread that I could in my mouth before I got up and followed after my squad. All throughout the mess hall other members of Fox Company made their way out.

The auditorium was the central "stage" area of the _Olympia_. It acted as sort of the debriefing room for when whole companies were given assignments. There were hundreds of red velvet covered chairs. It pretty much had the set up of your average cinema theater, with each level being slightly higher then the next. At its front was a medium sized stage.

The one hundred thirty odd Helljumpers of Fox Company made their way into the auditorium. Each took there seat with there appropriate squad leader. We found our Squad leader Sergeant Mills with our squads second in command Corporal Compton.

At 6'5 and having muscles so large that it would make a Hunter second guess fighting him, Sergeant Mills was the definition of a badass. He was our squad's leader and we respected him greatly. I had only known the guy for a couple weeks but I felt oddly safe being around him.

Corporal Compton was the blue eyed, blond haired pretty boy of the squad. Despite this he was a very competent soldier and a guy you could rely on in a thick situation. Other members of the squad present were Clayton and Marks. I hadn't really had the time to get to know them. All I knew is that they were the youngest in the squad. Despite this they still had more combat experience as an ODST then I did, so in a way they outranked me.

There was a quick greeting between us before the lights dimmed signaling us to sit down. We quickly found our seats and waited patiently. Our patience was quickly paid off however, when Captain Montgomery strolled out onto the stage followed by his executive officer Lieutenant Carroll Sanders. There was no cheering on the arrival of our Company Commander. I had learned that from Hillbilly that Captain Sanders wasn't the most liked person. He had mentioned something about Montgomery almost getting the entire Company annihilated on Shirakawa II when he ordered a suicide charge across open ground to re establish the line. He had said that Lieutenant Sanders was a much better choice for Company commander. Had the Captain bit the dust she would most definitely take over. Then our Platoon leader, Lieutenant Martinez, would take over as XO. I hadn't served under Montgomery long enough to judge him, but I did get an eerie feeling when around him.

"Fox Company!" Sanders shouted, getting our attention, "Listen up!" Our attention was peaked. We were all literally shaking with anticipation. We knew that this meeting was a debrief on our upcoming mission.

Sanders gave the floor to Montgomery, who walked up to the podium, "Fox Company, hope you guys had a good sleep." There were a few murmurs of agreement here and there, but it just stayed awkwardly silent as a whole. Montgomery quickly broke the silence, "We are approaching Insomnis V."

That got our attention. "As you know the Planet is currently under siege by the Covenant." A holographic image of Insomnis appeared over the stage. With its lush forest and large bodies of water it looked quite similar to Earth, except that it was slightly smaller then Earth. "There are currently twelve million people living on this planet. It is mainly of European descent. The majority of the population lives on this continent here." The image of the planet was zoomed in to one particularly large landmass, "This is the continent of Chimera."

The image zoomed out again and showed the planet as a whole again. Many red dots appeared around the planet, "twenty six Covenant ships ranging from cruisers, destroyers and even an Assault Carrier appeared out of Slipspace a week ago. They quickly did away with Insomnis V's Defense Fleet and began to land troops on Chimera. Now the local Militia and 41st Army Division were able to repel them for a few days, just long enough to evac the majority of the Civilians, but they eventually fell. Now small pockets of resistance are holding out along with many civvies that couldn't get out in time. The Covenant has begun an occupation process on Insomnis V. Now normally this wouldn't require such a large fleet, but as long as Insomnis V is in Covie hands then the whole Omicron Justi System is in jeopardy of falling. You and I both know that if this system falls then travel for the UNSC will take twice as long as usual. That's why we have such a large fleet assembled."

I never liked being on ships. To marines being on ships was like being in prison. I also did not like leaving my fate up to the Navy swabbies who piloted the vessels. I liked having boots on good ole terrafirma, where I could control my own fate.

"Why haven't the Covenant glassed the planet yet sir?" A Helljumper inquired from the third row. Montgomery turned to where the voice came from, "We think they are looking for something on the planet. They have done stuff similar to this before on planets such as Harvest, but we can't be sure."

"Sir," Russo asked, "Hope you don't mind me asking, but where do we fall in with all this?"

"Glad you asked trooper," Montgomery said. With a snap of his finger the image turned from the planet to show the vast Fleet in which we were currently in, "The 11th Fleet is split up into three battle groups. Texas, Arizona and Utah. Battle groups Texas and Arizona are caring X Corps and XII Corps respectively. Utah is in a supporting role as the fleets attack group. Battle groups Utah and Arizona will engage the Covenant at first, pushing them back to allow Texas to deploy its troops. Then Battle group Arizona will deploy its troops on the northern peninsula of Chimera, while Texas switches. All the while Utah will hold a picket line holding the Covenant back. "

Montgomery took a breath before continuing, "Here is where we come in. General McKinney wants the entire 9th Battalion to drop feet first onto Chimeras southern coast. He wants the entire battalion of Helljumpers to clear a LZ for the rest of the X Corps to land. He also wants the 9th Battalions to secure important roadways and crossroads all along the coast, destroy Covenant AA guns along what we have designated Red Beach, capture key buildings near the coast that we think are barracks used by the Covies, and to capture the Kingman and Normandy bridges to allow easier travel for the tanks and other armor once it gets groundside."

The captain turned towards his XO who nodded and proceeded to take over the stage, "Fox Company we will be going after those AA guns near Red Beach. Dog and Easy Companies can handle the other objectives. We will be dropping in hot all along the coast. Now the _Olympia_ and the two other ships carrying the rest of the 9th Battalion will move in quickly over orbit above the planet. From there we will drop in on Chimeras southern coast. After you get groundside link up at rally point Baker and we will hit our objective. Everyone will have the objective marked on their VISR. Are there any questions?"

A Sergeant who looked like he's seen quite some combat raised his hand, "Ma'am what will be our time slot with this?" Sanders shook her head, "Good question Rinested. Your mission will commence around 0100. General McKinney's forces will be landing at 0600 hours. That gives you about four to five hours to hit your objectives. Anymore questions?"

This time it was Hillbilly who raised his hand, "Yes ma'am. Will Captain Montgomery be joining us on the drop?" Montgomery, who had seemed surprised that he had been suddenly brought up quickly, came to the podium, "Err um …. Yes I will be joining you. Of course. It would be inappropriate for a company commander to let his men and women do all the fighting while he simply sat back and watched."

"That's a load of bullshit," Sergeant Mills whispered, "He probably planned to do just that and sit here nice and cozy on the _Olympia_, until Hillbilly brought up if he was coming or not." The squad nodded in agreement.

Sanders seeing there was no more questions then stated, "If there are no more questions then report to the drop bay by 0030 hours." She and Captain Montgomery then exited the stage leaving us to dwell on our thoughts. Slowly ODST's began to exit the auditorium as well.

We quickly made our way to the armor room, where our armor was located. I found mine within my locker. It was the most beautiful battle armor I had ever seen. It was pitch black with some bits of gray camo on the legs and forearms. I took it out and put it on over my black body suit. I snapped on all the armor platings and picked up my helmet admiring it.

It was made of titanium, coated with a heat resistance material to help disperse heat - the inside is lined with black padding to provide comfort when the user is wearing it. The helmet's faceplate is made of a strong, glass-like material with the ability to polarize. When polarized, the helmet's faceplate has a silver blue color to it, and obscures the wearer's face completely.

I placed the helmet under my arm. I turned to spot O'Reily leaning against the locker next to mine, "So this is it Rex. Our first operation as ODST." A smile crept across my face, "Yeah. It is really exciting."

O'Reily raised an eyebrow, "Really? I'm so nervous that I have to take a shit." I couldn't help but laugh, "You were always the funny one," I stood up and extended my hand. O'Reily grasped it and we hugged wit hour free hands, "We are going to make it man, I know we are."

We let go and O'Reily said, "Oorah." At that moment Sergeant Mills walked over, "T-Rex and O'Reily, after you two finish your little love session grab your weapons and get your asses to the drop bay. We are supposed to go in ten minutes."

O'Reily and I snapped up crisp salutes, "Yessir Sergeant!" While Mills went on to talk to some others of the squad, we went over to the weapons rack. There were a few ODST's already here picking up their respective weapons of choice. I spotted Chase grabbing ammunition for his M319 Individual Grenade Launcher. As the squads' grenadier, he used the single-shot, break action explosives launcher to great efficiency. He had an M7 as his secondary weapon when the enemy got a little too close for comfort.

He gave O'Reily and I a curt nod as he passed us on his way to the drop bay. I grabbed my preferred weapons, the MA5B Assault Rifle and the M6D Magnum. I grabbed a few grenades and attached them to my webbing.

O'Reily was getting a similar kit to mine. Both of us served as riflemen within the squad so it was the basic kit of all riflemen. After that, we made our way to the Drop Bay. It was effectionally referred to as "Hell's Waiting Room" by us ODST's. Long rows each filled with multiple different types of drop pods were prominent in this room. Helljumpers were making their way to these pods. Each one was specific for a trooper with a name engraved on it. This was to identify the trooper if he was unlucky enough to bite the bucket on entry to the planet.

I found my pod between Moss and Chucklers. I sat in the single seat that dominated much of the pods interior. I placed my assault rifle in the weapons slot next to my head. Mafia walked pass my pod. He turned and said, "Good luck newbie. It's going to be one helluva ride."

I couldn't tell if that was a negative thing or a compliment. I nodded and rested my head back against the padding. After a few moments the door of the HEV closed shut sealing me inside. I felt cramped inside the pod. Despite its size most of the HEV's interior went to storage space and technical support, leaving just enough room for one to fit in the seat. This would've been a claustrophobics nightmare.

Two screens lit up in front of me. One of them showed Captain Montgomery while the other showed Lieutenant Sanders. Both Helljumpers had their faceplates depolarized. I was seeing the same thing that every other ODST in the Company was seeing.

"Troopers!" Sanders barked over the general COM, "We embark through the valley of the shadow of death. We are the first troops of all of Operation Leveler that will set foot on the ground. If we fail, the whole operation fails. Now we AREN'T going too fail. We are going to go down there and kick some Covenant ass. _How will we be getting down there?" _

"_Feet First into Hell!" _we all roared the response in unison. It was an age old pre-drop ritual all ODST's did before a drop. We were no different.

The pod lurched as it was lowered through the floor of the drop bay, down through the _Olympia's _hull, and we were hanging onto an armed stanchion.

I glanced down and my stomach felt like it had butterflies in it. Insomnis V lay below. A huge landmass lay below, it must've been Chimera. Its brilliant greenish brown was bordered by light Blue Ocean. White clouds were prominent in the atmosphere.

I had bee non a few practice drops over Reach when I had been in training, but this was my first live combat drop. Just two weeks after getting out of training, go figure.

The pods in front of mine flared to life as they began to descend. I felt my stomach flip upside down as my HEV dropped away at breakneck speeds from the belly of the _Olympia._

_Here we go_


End file.
